Muḥammad al-ʿAddārs was a Ḥadramī-born religious scholar of Gujarat in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the teacher of Sayyid ʿUmar Bā Shaybān and thus the spiritual grandfather of Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī and of Shaikh Yūsuf al-Makassar. He was born in 1561 at Tarim in South Arabia and came to Gujarat at the age of nineteen, where he succeeded his famous grandfather as religious teacher, first at Ahmadabad and later at Surat. He died at Surat in 1620.
Origin and migration
Al-ʿAddārs was born in 1561 at Tarim — the ancient capital of the Ḥaḍramawt valley in South Arabia, and one of the principal centres of Ḥadramī scholarship. At the age of nineteen — that is, in 1580 — he came to Gujarat, where he succeeded his famous grandfather as religious teacher. The migration of al-ʿAddārs from Tarim to Gujarat was part of the larger Ḥadramī diaspora that, from the late middle ages onwards, carried the scholars and saints of the Ḥaḍramawt to the ports of the Indian Ocean — from the Maldive Islands to Acheh and the Malay-Indonesian archipelago.
Residence in Gujarat
Al-ʿAddārs succeeded his grandfather as religious teacher first at Ahmadabad — the great city of Gujarat, and a principal centre of Indian-Arab scholarship — and later at Surat — the port that, in this period, was the principal point of contact between Gujarat and the Malay-Indonesian world. He died at Surat in 1620. His role as the successor of his grandfather at both Ahmadabad and Surat indicates the hereditary character of the religious office in the Ḥadramī-Indian families; it also indicates the standing of al-ʿAddārs as one of the principal religious teachers of Gujarat in his generation.
The spiritual genealogy
Al-ʿAddārs is the teacher of Sayyid ʿUmar Bā Shaybān — the shaikh of Raniri and Shaikh Yūsuf al-Makassar in the Rifāʿiyya — and so the spiritual grandfather of both Malay-Indonesian Sufis. The transmission of the Rifāʿiyya from al-ʿAddārs to Bā Shaybān at Surat is the immediate link by which the orthodox Sufi silsila of the Gujarati-Ḥadramī network was carried to the Malay-Indonesian world; and the role of al-ʿAddārs as the spiritual grandfather of Raniri places him at the head of the spiritual genealogy by which Raniri, on his arrival in Acheh in 1637, claimed the authority of an orthodox mystic against the Wujudiyyah of Hamzah Pansuri and Shamsuddin of Pasai.
See Also
- Abd al-Qadir al-Aidaros
- Ahmad Rifa’i
- Ahmadabad
- Gudjarat
- Raniri
- Rifa’iyah order
- Sajjid Abu Hafs Umar Ba Sjaiban
- Surat
- Tarim
- Yusuf Makasar
Source
Twee Maleise geschriften van Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī: in facsimile uitgegeven met aantekeningen door P. Voorhoeve. Uitgaven van de Stichting De Goeje, No. 16. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1955. Inleiding §1 (“De auteur”), pp. 5–6.
Al-Muḥibbī, Khulāṣat al-athār IV, pp. 26 ff., cited by Voorhoeve for the life of al-ʿAddārs.
Muḥammad al-ʿAddārs was a Ḥadramī-born religious scholar of Gujarat in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the teacher of Sayyid ʿUmar Bā Shaybān and thus the spiritual grandfather of Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī and of Shaikh Yūsuf al-Makassar. He was born in 1561 at Tarim in South Arabia and came to Gujarat at the age of nineteen, where he succeeded his famous grandfather as religious teacher, first at Ahmadabad and later at Surat. He died at Surat in 1620.
Origin and migration
Al-ʿAddārs was born in 1561 at Tarim — the ancient capital of the Ḥaḍramawt valley in South Arabia, and one of the principal centres of Ḥadramī scholarship. At the age of nineteen — that is, in 1580 — he came to Gujarat, where he succeeded his famous grandfather as religious teacher. The migration of al-ʿAddārs from Tarim to Gujarat was part of the larger Ḥadramī diaspora that, from the late middle ages onwards, carried the scholars and saints of the Ḥaḍramawt to the ports of the Indian Ocean — from the Maldive Islands to Acheh and the Malay-Indonesian archipelago.
Residence in Gujarat
Al-ʿAddārs succeeded his grandfather as religious teacher first at Ahmadabad — the great city of Gujarat, and a principal centre of Indian-Arab scholarship — and later at Surat — the port that, in this period, was the principal point of contact between Gujarat and the Malay-Indonesian world. He died at Surat in 1620. His role as the successor of his grandfather at both Ahmadabad and Surat indicates the hereditary character of the religious office in the Ḥadramī-Indian families; it also indicates the standing of al-ʿAddārs as one of the principal religious teachers of Gujarat in his generation.
The spiritual genealogy
Al-ʿAddārs is the teacher of Sayyid ʿUmar Bā Shaybān — the shaikh of Raniri and Shaikh Yūsuf al-Makassar in the Rifāʿiyya — and so the spiritual grandfather of both Malay-Indonesian Sufis. The transmission of the Rifāʿiyya from al-ʿAddārs to Bā Shaybān at Surat is the immediate link by which the orthodox Sufi silsila of the Gujarati-Ḥadramī network was carried to the Malay-Indonesian world; and the role of al-ʿAddārs as the spiritual grandfather of Raniri places him at the head of the spiritual genealogy by which Raniri, on his arrival in Acheh in 1637, claimed the authority of an orthodox mystic against the Wujudiyyah of Hamzah Pansuri and Shamsuddin of Pasai.
See Also
- Abd al-Qadir al-Aidaros
- Ahmad Rifa’i
- Ahmadabad
- Gudjarat
- Raniri
- Rifa’iyah order
- Sajjid Abu Hafs Umar Ba Sjaiban
- Surat
- Tarim
- Yusuf Makasar
Source
Twee Maleise geschriften van Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī: in facsimile uitgegeven met aantekeningen door P. Voorhoeve. Uitgaven van de Stichting De Goeje, No. 16. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1955. Inleiding §1 (“De auteur”), pp. 5–6.
Al-Muḥibbī, Khulāṣat al-athār IV, pp. 26 ff., cited by Voorhoeve for the life of al-ʿAddārs.